December 2010 MMA News Archive - Page 3

Do you have a hot MMA story or news item that you have found and would like to share?
Then read our guidelines then post it to our MMA News Share Forum to have it display here for the community to read on this page.

Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic and Brendan Schaub are set to meet on March 19th and will air on the evening’s PPV main card, Fighters Only can exclusively reveal.
Verbal agreements are in place and paperwork is expected to be finalized soon. It had been reported that Schaub was to face Frank Mir, then Stefan Struve, but neither of those matches were contracted and have now been scrapped.

Undefeated Brazilian prospect Edson Barboza (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will welcome former WEC contender Anthony Njokuani (13-4 MMA, 4-3 WEC) to the UFC.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the promotion that the two lightweights have verbally agreed to meet at UFC 128, and bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly.
The bout's placement on the card has yet to be determined.
Featuring a light heavyweight title fight between current champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and former title holder Rashad Evans, "UFC 128: Shogun vs. Evans" takes place March 19 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has a new home on cable television – at least for one night.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned that Ion Television has secured the rights to broadcast preliminary bouts from the forthcoming "UFC 125: Resolution" event.
And while UFC fans are now used to a pair of octagon clashes during most "UFC Prelims" broadcasts, UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com he's upping the ante for New Year's Day.
"The prelims we do air, there's only supposed to be two," White said. "Time-wise, it's impossible to pull off three if they all go to the distance. I'm going to roll the dice on this thing.
"Not only are we going to bring the prelims to the fans, but everybody has been hammering me for the Phil Baroni-Brad Tavares fight, so I'm going to do three fights. I'm going to give them that fight, too."

According to Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports/Wrestling Observer, Brock is currently looking for an "exit strategy" from the UFC.
Meltzer said on his radio show that the fight with Velasquez has changed Brock's attitude on fighting and he is at the stage in his life where he doesn't want to get injured. He's very well off financially and the business man in him apparently knows that it may be time to move on.
Meltzer also mentioned that Brock hasn't trained a single day since the Velasquez fight nor he has returned any phone calls to Dana or Zuffa about upcoming matches.

Specifically his loss to the next challenger for Anderson Silva's UFC Middleweight Title. "The war has started. I’ll catch you, understand bro? I’ll catch him because our first fight did not prove anything really; it was a technical error and also a lucky moment. He knocked me out quickly. That loss is stuck in my throat and I will turn it over. I am a different fighter now and this time the one who is going to do the knocking out is me. I’ll beat him badly. I’m already preparing myself for this bout. I’m acting on his mindset. Everybody knows he is strong but is psychologically weak. Everybody knows he goes to bits before going in to fight, so I’m damaging his mind already." Said loss was at UFC 17.5, when Belfort KO'd SIlva in just 44 seconds.

Brendan Schaub wanted to fight a former UFC champion after giving Gabriel Gonzaga his heavyweight pink slip back in October. Wish granted...almost. The incomparable "Showdown" Joe Ferraro is reporting that a previously rumored contest between "The Hybrid" and former division kingpin Frank Mir has been scrapped in favor of Schaub vs. Stefan Struve. The fight is expected to be part of UFC On Versus 3 on March 3.

Despite a star-studded preliminary card and some intriguing matchups, Saturday's UFC 125 event appears it'll air solely on pay-per-view. There are no plans for a UFC Prelims special on Spike prior to the PPV and no plans for online streaming either. Barring a last-minute change, some solid preliminary-card fights won't get guaranteed air time. They include Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier, and Mike Brown vs. Diego Nunes. Additionally, a Twitter campaign designed to get a welterweight bout between Phil Baroni and Brad Tavares on TV apparently will come up short. UFC & Spike reportedly are still working on a contract extension to bring back the UFC Prelims specials for 2011.

World Victory Road has announced the full fight order for their major 12/30 year-end event, and it features a whopping 28 fights in all. The 15 MMA fights planned are scheduled for the latter portion of the show, and the MMA main event will be Marlon Sandro vs. Hatsu Hioki for the Sengoku Featherweight Title. Kazuo Misaki-Mike Seal will be the co-main. TV details in the US are still being worked out but it's likely that some portion of the event will air tape-delayed (not live) on HDNet.

Dan Hornbuckle's nickname might be "The Handler", but it appears even he can't handle the flu. The illness has forced him off Thursday's all-day Sengoku event in Japan, where he was to have faced Ryo Chonan in an MMA fight. Taisuke Okuno is the replacement. Okuno participated in the Sengoku Welterweight GP earlier this year, reaching the semifinals before losing. His career mark is 10-5-2, all 5 losses have been decisions.
UPDATE: Apparently it's not flu. Bellator wouldn't let him take the fight. (Link above updated with additional details)

Welterweights Dan Hardy and Anthony Johnson have verbally agreed to square off in March, MMA Fighting has learned from sources close to the fight.
The front-runner event to host the bout is Ultimate Fight Night 24 on March 30. Although not officially announced by the organization, that card is expected to take place in Seattle, Wash. The UFC is also expected to hold events on March 3 and March 19.

Former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann made the move to the Ultimate Fighting Championship after World Extreme Cagefighting shuttered its light heavyweight and middleweight divisions in late 2008. Shortly thereafter, he made another move… to Greg Jackson’s camp in Albuquerque, N.M.
Several fights later, he calls himself “a staple” of the camp, and hasn’t looked back.
“Each camp I do here in Albuquerque just keeps getting better and better with some of the best fighters in the world,” Stann told MMAWeekly Radio.

Life is all about second chances, and that’s what former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez is hoping for with the promotion that helped to put him on the map.
It’s been over seven years since Rodriguez last stepped foot in the UFC Octagon, but he’s never forgot the feeling of holding that gold belt or watching the crowd rise as he pulled off a victory.
Good article with interview, interesting read

A welterweight bout between local favorite Ricardo Almeida and Mike Pyle is slated for UFC 128 in Newark, NJ, MMA Fighting learned through sources close to the fight.
UFC 128 is expected to take place March 19 at the Prudential Center, headlined by Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Rashad Evans for the UFC light heavyweight title.

UFC castoff Jens Pulver (22-14-1) will return to action against an unknown opponent at Xtreme Fighting Organization (XFO) 38 on Jan. 22, 2011. The former lightweight champion hasn't won a fight since Dec. of 2007 and has lost eight of his last nine contests.
Reported by

Perennial welterweight contender Jon Fitch, who may be one big win away from challenging for the 170-pound title (again), talks about the type of performance we can expect on Feb. 27 in Sydney, Australia.

Sometimes in life, you get exactly what you ask for.
Rick Story called out Thiago Alves and the UFC has apparently obliged him, as the two are reportedly set to square off at the annual Memorial Day weekend event to go down in May of 2011, according to MMAWeekly.com.
Alves is working his way back up the ranks after dropping back-to-back fights to Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre and perennial contender Jon Fitch.

We know heavyweight number one contender Junior dos Santos is a knockout artist but according to the Brazilian bomber, he also has it in his head that he can take down wrestling standout and current UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez.
No date has been announced for their fight but in the same interview "JDS" states that he was told by company President Dana White that if he were to win the title, his first defense of the strap could very well come at UFC: "Rio" when the organization makes their long awaited return to his homeland.
Video in article as well

DREAM's year-end show, "Dynamite!! 2010," airs live in the U.S. on HDNet.
HDNet Fights brass officially announced the blockbuster event premieres Friday, Dec. 31, at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT.
"Dynamite!! 2010" takes place Dec. 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
DREAM "Dynamite!! 2010" features a massive 15-bout card loaded with notables. The promotion's featherweight and welterweight titles will both be on the line, as champ Bibiano Fernandes faces Hiroyuki Takaya, while title holder Marius Zaromskis puts his belt on the line against MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba.

DEEP middleweight champion Riki Fukuda (17-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and "The Ultimate Fighter 11" contestant Nick Ring (10-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will do battle in Australia.
UFC brass today announced that the two first-timers will make their octagon debut at "UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch."
The bout, which takes place on the evening's preliminary card, was previously reported by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

When former WEC champion Mike Brown (24-6 MMA, 0-1 UFC) steps into the octagon to face Diego Nunes (15-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC 125, it won't be the first time he's fought inside the UFC's trademark cage.
Of course, the first time didn't go exactly as planned.
"I was like a deer in the headlights," Brown recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I had a chance; I still swung hard and did my best, but I wasn't thinking out there like I should be."